Application for realityshifted
Player Name: Duckie
Player LJ: amethystduckie
Email and/or AIM: thelightofduskATgmailDOTcom // AmethystDuckie
Timezone: EST
Other Characters: N/A
Character: Cordelia Chase
Fandom: Angel: The Series
Deviance: Deviation 1
Age: 19
Gender: female
Species: human
Canon Used: This canon is set at the end Season One of Angel. I have used only her time on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television shows. I am not familiar with the comics and books so they are not incorporated into my version of Cordy.
Appearance:
Psychology: Cordelia has come a ways from her cruel and spiteful days at Sunnydale High School. Though she still acts as she pleases, she also has very recently begun to feel compassion in her heart. It's just the beginnings of a new feeling for her, but it's compelling enough that Cordelia is willing to give the whole vision thing time if it means she's able to help stop the suffering she witnessed when under Vocah's curse.
Make no mistake though, this is Cordelia Chase. She still loves shoes, shopping, and everything glamorous. Appearances still matter to Cordelia if for no other reason than they've been integral to her identity for so long. The burn she felt when her friends in High School turned on her, the feeling of punishment she carried with her after her many unsuccessful months in L.A., took their toll on "keeping up" with those who, in time, she will start to realize hardly matter. For now though, it's a relief to have a job, even if she has to fudge the details on it, a gorgeous apartment, and the occasional new pair of shoes to call home about. Though she has distanced herself from Sunnydale, she certainly doesn't want rumors flying about among her old popular friends that she is anything less than successful.
Still the same Cordy in some ways, she says things without thinking, usually pretty tactless things, and tends to have very little filter from what pops in her mind to what she says. Many people who meet her find Cordy to be abrasive, pushy, and far too opinionated for her own good. Cordelia sometimes finds herself in messy situations, even with the average human, because she is quick to fire off just what she thinks of someone. Her comments aren't always meant to be mean, though sometimes they are, she just has a penchant for being blunt.
Coupled with this is a lack of patience. Patience with people, patience with time, patience with most things can be a challenge for her and make her challenging to deal with for others. Cordelia wants instant gratification and isn't a fan of long hours reading dusty books and longer hours spent searching out materials for rituals and spells. Flighty, and sometimes dismissive, it can be a task getting Cordelia to assist with things she's either unskilled with or uninterested in. And if one is thinking of stroking her ire to see her famous temper? Don't. Cordelia will absolutely rip anyone a new one if given the motivation and opportunity.
Confidence has become Cordelia's middle name since coming to L.A. Finally remembering herself, that she wasn't some lousy cry-Buffy, when casting Dennis' ghostly mother from her home, the self-loathing that she first experienced in L.A. is fading. The old Cordy, one who didn't take anything being dealt from anyone is firmly intact once more.
Headstrong and proud, Cordelia will no longer be intimidated. Growing up on a hellmouth teaches a girl how to stand up for herself and living in L.A. has shown her that if you don't fight you might end up dead. Cordelia has no problems confronting monsters and sometimes even goes so far as to antagonize them by mouthing off. Try as they might, the other two members of Angel Investigations have a hard time keeping her from making some situations worse, especially when Cordelia insists on being allowed to tag along.
Though she hated the visions and their accompanying pain for some time, being cursed to witness the horrors on earth for hours and hours has humbled her. Cordelia Chase has begun to realize she's not the only human being on earth worth something. She's at a juxtaposition now, wanting to help those in need but still dreading the pain that always comes when the vision is done. She isn't the greatest fighter, the greatest researcher, or the greatest computer typist, but now Cordelia can offer them what Doyle had before: the path to those in need. Moreover, she's willing to.
Who would have thought that she, Queen C, would ever have have looked forward to working strange hours out of her apartment with her colleagues? Though it's a very new feeling, wanting to help others besides herself, Cordelia is trying to keep herself firmly on the path. Cordelia is finally understanding loyalty, to friends, to a cause, and it's setting her up for paradigm changes as she continues to grow in her role within Angel Investigations.
Other Skills/Abilities: As mentioned above, Cordelia has prophetic visions of the short-term future. And, in her own residence, she is protected by a phantom spirit named Dennis.
Other Weaknesses: Said visions are slowly destroying her brain. The Astral Plane will sustain her, but the intense pain, at the time Cordelia joins the game, does not cease.
History: Cordelia's story beings in Sunnydale, CA. As head cheerleader, prom queen, and queen of the "Cordettes," she had it all. She was rich, popular, and beautiful. Buffy and her cohorts were practically peons, subjected regularly to her mocking, nasty comments, and bad treatment. Popular kids picking on the nerds, an age old tradition that shallow Cordelia was more than happy to embrace. She denies the existence of the supernatural and, in doing so, sets herself up to fall hard on her own sword when it turns out that not only are vampires, ghosts, demons, etc real, but one of them was after her.
It wasn't until she needed their help that Cordelia offers Buffy and company any polite words or kind gestures. In time, she even begrudgingly considers them allies. As a somewhat unwilling member of the Scoobies, Cordelia found herself exposed to all the horrors that living on a hellmouth had to offer.
She was very much an resisting participant in their escapades and as time went on, her status as most popular girl in school suffered. Dating Xander Harris, social outcast extraordinaire likely did not help. Despite a breakup to try and regain her old friends, she ends up falling for him and takes him back. By the time she and Xander broke up for the second and final time, and she tried to escape the social stigma of hanging out with the Scoobies, it was too late. Xander had cheated on her with Willow of all people, nerdiest girl in the whole town! After that, she has a brief fling with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, a young watcher sent to Sunnydale by the Watcher's Council. The relationship did not pan out and things ended awkwardly.
Despite a very superficial make-up with all her former shallow friends, Cordelia finally lost it all when her parents lost their fortune in a scandalous tax fraud case. She leaves Sunnydale after high school, on rocky terms with both her former popular friends and the Scoobies. Despite joining forces with them at Senior Prom to slay the town's mayor and a slew of vampires, Cordelia knows her time in Sunnydale is coming to an end. She makes peace where she can, including with Xander, and sets her sights on getting away from Sunnydale, away from the Hellmouth, and away from everything reminding her of how far she had fallen.
With nowhere to go and only her dreams of being a famous actress to keep her alive, Cordelia leaves Sunnydale shortly after graduation and heads for Los Angeles. When she arrives here the normal life she hoped to live proved to be unattainable. Auditions went poorly and Cordelia was nearly starving when she finally ran into her old friend Angel. He had a new friend too, a guy by the name of Doyle. Doyle and Angel come to her rescue when a seemingly "big break" for her career turns into her being dinner for a vampire.
Realizing all the good they could do (and the money they could make), Cordelia convinces Angel and Doyle to make a proper business out of their 'helping the helpless.' And so Angel Investigations was born.
The fabulous three were a great team for quite a while, solving supernatural crime and saving lives. Doyle did his vision thing, Angel stopped the bad guys, and Cordelia cashed the checks! (To be fair, she did end up regularly involved in the mayhem the other two experienced). In fact, Doyle even proved to be useful enough that he landed her a luxurious apartment with one of the best views of the city! Granted, there was a catch, but that tended be the only kinds of things Doyle could drum up. Great things with serious catches.
It turned out that many years before, an over protective mother had murdered her only son by bricking him into the wall. She did not approve of Dennis' choice in women and "for his own good" she kept him home. Forever. Tenant after tenant was driven mad and to eventual suicide until Cordelia showed up. The evil spirit almost had her way with Cordelia too but, in an epiphany when it mattered most, Cordelia remembered herself. All that Sunnydale bitch, all the resentment for her bad luck since coming to L.A. exploded in a very angry Cordy and the team casting the woman out.
Dennis' spirit was freed, though remained as a phantom in the apartment. He became almost like a roommate, though he was generally perfectly tidy and wouldn't eat her last pint of ice cream. Though Dennis cannot manifest corporeally, he can cause physical disturbances including manipulating lights and electricity, moving objects, and creating strong winds.
It seemed the perfect way to get by for the time being, despite her promises that one day she'd be a famous actress and would have no time for them. She ended up with a lovely apartment, thanks to Doyle, a protective ghost roommate, which was totally livable, and somewhere she could belong.
All this was blown apart when Angel Investigations lost it's truest hero. Doyle gave his life, and his visions, to protect a group of kind demons. In his final moments and one passionate first and last kiss, Doyle transferred his visions to Cordelia. Shell shocked from the loss of her friend, and potential love, and rattled with the new painful responsibility of visions from the Powers That Be, Cordy has a hard time adjusting. Many sleepless night she's sees Doyle's burning face. After every vision she tearily remembers what things were like before all the pain and change.
In time she adjusts, strong at heart deep down. If only she could get rid of those pesky visions! They hurt like hell and, really, they weren't going to help with her now floundering acting career. Wesley returns from their past at Sunnydale and becomes are part of AI. His help ends up proving invaluable as Cordy is both uninterested and lacking talent in the art of research. Plus, having that extra set of hands to catch her when the visions came certainly didn't hurt! Though they are taking their toll, Cordy is not yet aware of the long-term implications of the damage.
The new three make a decent team, saving many lives along the way and even learning t work it out with locals like Charles Gunn and his rag-tag band of vampire hunters that patrol portions of L.A. Gunn later becomes a member of the team, but this is after the canon point Cordelia is from. Little changes for the three until Wolfram and Hart begins what they hope will be the end to Angel's meddlesome ways.
Vocah, an evil warrior, is summoned from the underworld to assist with the raising of Angel's sire Darla. In the firm's path to destroy all that is close to Angel, Cordelia is subject to a cerebral attack, with Vocah overloading her brain with enough visions to send her into a seizure in broad daylight. At the hospital there is little the doctors can do to help Cordelia, who eventually ends up in a catatonic state from the havoc being wrought on her mind. During all this, Wesley is nearly killed when Angel Investigation is bombed and the Oracles, a pair of other worldly twins who can divine most things but talk in riddles to counsel those they allow into their realm, are murdered.
The Oracles advise Angel to find the scrolls that have passages that will save Cordelia's life. Unfortunately these scrolls are currently in the possession of Wolfram and Hart, being used to summon Darla back to earth. Angel ends up battling Vocah, maiming Lindsey (a lawyer he'd failed to turn back to the ways of good previously), and retrieving the scrolls. Back at the hospital, Wesley reads the words of Anatole and Cordelia is freed from Vocah's curse.
Though she endured immense pain and misery, her time lost in the constant bombardment of the world's suffering seems to have had an unexpected effect. When Cordelia considers all those out there with no one to save them, suddenly the mission Angel is on seems far more important than most anything else. The team re-locates to her apartment with a renewed sense of duty in the fight against evil and Cordelia vows she will do all she can to help Angel in his quest.
Canon Point: Post Season One Finale (Episode 22) "To Shanshu in L.A."
Reality Description: Cordelia Chase's reality is the year 2000, in Los Angeles, California. Technology, society, etc remain period accurate for the year.The world is historically accurate to our own, with one large exception. The element of dark fantasy is present and relatively well known among those who matter. In a cosmic struggle of good versus evil, evil is gaining the upper hand on earth. What kind of evil you ask?
Vampires are the main evil in the combined Angel/Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe and prove to be a regular enemy that Angel Investigations faces. They roam the streets at night, soulless beasts that consume the blood of mortals to survive. (Well, except for Angel, who actually possesses a sould from a gypsy's curse, but even Angel must drink blood and is forced to live by the same rules). Like vampires of lore, they are unable to walk the day, bursting into flame at the first touch of sun's light. To enter someone's home, they must be invited in and the invitation can always be withdrawn. They burn when touched by crosses and holy water, though garlic does nothing. And, most important, a stake through the heart or a completed beheading will "dust" any vampiric enemy. Dusting, unique to this universe, results in a vampire exploding into a fine ashy dust as they are eradicated.
These creatures are not the only that plauge the night. Demons come to earth from a multitude of dimensions, with only their own aims in mind. Though humans have had control over the world for thousands of years, the forces of evil slowly are pervading the earth. In time they hope to take it back for the side of evil, wiping out, enslaving, and crushing the human race.
If this involves murder, mayhem, and more in the meantime? So be it. Allied with the side of evil is one of the world's most prestigious (and not-so-secretly) evil law firms, Wolfram and Hart. Wolfram and Hart exists to serve other-worldly creatures and humans allying themselves with in legal matters, professional interests, and dabbles secretly in experimentation and playing the role of gods.
Though no one has met the Senior Partners, ancient demons long ago cast out of earth, there are whispers in alleys and the streets that messing with them isn't always death sentence but many times a life time of torture and suffering. The Senior Partners pull the strings from behind the scenes and manage to reach and touch everything they desire, on this plane or almost any other. The Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart, as they were once known as, remain exceedingly powerful, even from such a great distance, with the firm acting as a front for their intentions.
Wolfram and Hart will stop at nothing to protect their interests and Angel and his team become more of a nuisance every day. Cordelia, now cursed blessed with visions of what evil is to come helps guide Angel, a souled vampire, and their human helper Wesley to crusade against the dark forces. Angel Investigations has been making their dent in the horrors of the world as best they can. Every vampire dusted, every demon slain, every good soul protected is one less that evil can claim.
During the show, it is revealed that Wolfram and Hart possess knowledge of what is later determined to be the Shanshu Prophecy, one that references Angel. The firm pays him increasing attention, especially after Angel steals the Prophecies of Aberjian scroll from their firm vaults. As time goes on, Angel will directly position himself against the firm, his sire Darla that they resurrect, and all other evils they increasingly throw his way.
Other than the vague and mysterious Powers that Be, the givers of the visions that help guide Angel in his atonement for past sins, there has been no overwhelming good force to push back against the darkness invading earth. There are what are known as the Oracles, a set of mysterious supernatural twins that reside on their own plane, but they often are cryptic in their help and expect offerings for their information.
It's the humans (and some werewolves, good demons, and half breeds) that are fighting tooth and nail, when they can, to try and get the upper hand. Others working for good include the Slayer Buffy Summers (one human girl in all the world gifted with natural superhuman strength and skills to slay evil), witches, and even common mortals banded against the dark forces. Much of the conflict takes place in the shadows, in dark alleys and the deepest nights in cemeteries. There are cases where magic can pervade the day, though, so the battle is never truly over.
First Person Speaking Sample:
Hello? Anyone home?
[Cordelia's voice echoes through the empty shop. There is no storekeeper to greet her, no patrons in sight. Despite knowing better, Cordelia can't help herself. She lets the door swing shut behind hide her, small brass bell ringing with finality as it shuts. Like that, she finds herself on the Astral Plane.]
Okaaaaaay, this was a bad idea!
[She's backing up, hoping the door will bump her back. She could escape then, get back to Angel and warn him of this place.]
Cordelia, you knew better, what were you thinking?! [She scolds herself until her wide brown eyes really take in the gravity of the situation.]
Well crap. Just great. Stuck on some stupid plane, somewhere in some horrible dimension and no one even saw you go in!
[With a frown and crossed arms, she looks over the star scape. Cordelia is not impressed.]
Wesley you better use your giant dorky brain to figure this out and fast! I do NOT want to spend my days here with no salons, no boutiques, no aspirin, and no big broody boss hanging around to keep the creeps away!
Third Person Writing Sample:
An early evening at home was exactly what Cordelia needed her rotten day. At about oh three in the afternoon or so she was wracked with a vision for the ages. Doyle was in it, in pain. The vision was almost like a dream in length, all long glimpses of her lost friend suffering. Sometimes it was his groans that echoed in her skull, sometimes it was the sound of things crashing around him. Each impact sent pain through Cordelia's entire body. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but surely wasn't very long at all, she regained her senses.
Angel had rushed to her side immediately, getting really skilled with the whole catching her before she fell routine. Once the pain subsided though, he was surprised to find not the usual exhausted Cordy. No, she was angry. How dare The Powers that be taunt her! It had been months since Doyle's demise and they decided to send her flash backs now? Now, just when Cordelia was finally starting to let go of the 'what if' feeling. How would she ever get over the guy if they sent her visions of him every time she tried??
Trying to busy herself after the vision was pointless. Cordelia's head ached, she was upset, unhappy, and generally miserable. Eventually, Angel took pity on her and encouraged her home. It bothered him to see her hurting, especially after everything she'd been through. Just a year ago she was cheerleading in Sunnydale. Now, she had migraines the likes of which no human could comprehend nearly daily, complete with images and the need to help the helpless. They waited just until dusk set in before he drove her home.
Once inside, it was all Cordelia could do not to burst into tears. And when Dennis made the mistake of offering a tissue box? She lost it. Sitting on her couch, Cordelia sobbed until her head hurt unbearably. Her life was awful! Sure she had a great apartment, a job (no matter how weird it was), and even helped people... But Cordelia felt like Doyle was everywhere she turned. In her apartment he picked, in their office. Even in those stupid visions he left her with!
"ARGH. Dennis this sucks!" she said with a stuffy nose.
Did you read the rules? Yes.